Aldermen deliberate pool project

The Clarendon City Council last week deliberated the fate of a proposed aquatics facility and discussed using city funds to help make up a shortfall between the low bid and money dedicated to the project.

A&S General Contractors had the lowest price of $2,716,838 when bids were opened on July 9. Funds currently dedicated to the project through donations and grants, however, total $2,253,055, leaving a shortfall of $463,783. City officials would also like to have a five percent contingency fund of $126,842 in the event of change orders or cost overruns.

The city has until August 23 to accept or reject the bid submitted by A&S.

“Things have changed dramatically over the last four years,” Mayor Sandy Skelton told the council. “I’m feeling okay about investing city funds into this project.”

Skelton told the council that the cost of building the swimming pool had gone up from $500 per square foot of surface water in 2015 to more than $800 per square foot today. City officials had initially said four years ago that no public funds would be spent on constructing the facility, but he said they had no way of knowing then what was going to happen with the prices of steel and concrete. The mayor also said a strong economy has pool builders busy and not hurting for work, which leads to higher prices.

The project has now been bid three times, coming in over budget each time. The most recent low bid has come the closest to the funds available but only after the size of the project was reduced from about 4,200 square feet of water surface area to 3,160 square feet.

“We highly recommend not bidding again,” Skelton said, noting that he and City Administrator David Dockery have been meeting with A&S to find ways to cut costs.

One proposed way to save about $180,000 would be to use gunite (or sprayed concrete) instead of cast concrete walls for the pool. City officials note that there is a trade-off in using the cheaper method, however, in that it leads to increased maintenance costs down the road and is considered not as strong as traditional building methods.

The city also has about $1.1 million in general and capital reserves and could tap some of those funds to help make up the short fall as well as pursue additional donations.

“We’re going to have to put in some city funds if we want to go forward,” Dockery said.

Clarendon Economic Development Corporation Secretary Roger Estlack and CEDC President Robert Riza both addressed the council about the water recreation project. The CEDC gave $25,000 initially to the project and also financed bonds of $500,000 to help pay for its construction.

Estlack urged the city to accept the current low bid, negotiate as much savings as possible, and use city reserves to make up the difference in order to start construction and open the aquatics center in 2020 rather than further delay the project.

Riza said the time has come to finish the project and that if the city fails to do so, it would never be able to go ask for donations for this kind of project again.

Alderman Larry Jeffers said he was not opposed to using city funds to support building the pool, and Alderman Nathan Floyd agreed.

“I feel good about it,” Floyd said.

Alderman Jacob Fangman asked about other costs associated with opening a pool, such as equipping lifeguards, signage, and other expenses. He said he worries about putting too much of the city’s reserves into the project.

“I think a pool is a great thing, but we need to think about the big picture,” Fangman said.
Skelton warned against considering scrapping the pool project and said the city would be in the hole with design and other costs if the project is not pursued.

“Personally, I think it would be a terrible mistake to scrap this project,” the mayor said. “Donors don’t want their money back. They want a pool.”

The city council took no action on the pool last week but will take up the issue again during its next two meetings in August.

“I was pleased with the thoughtful discussion the City Council had at its July 25th meeting regarding the financial details for the proposed swimming pool,” Mayor Skelton said after the meeting. “Over the next three weeks, we will be working diligently to cut costs and raise additional funds. The Economic Development Corporation and the Donley County Commissioners Court have contributed to the proposed pool, but the City of Clarendon has not done so thus far. However, the City Council has discussed the possibility of contributing in the next two or three weeks.

“In my personal opinion, it would be a huge lost opportunity for the residents of Clarendon and Donley County to not go through with this project,” Skelton continued. “How often does a city receive a large amount of donated funds for any project? If we do not construct the pool, the City would have to return 100 percent of the donated funds to many, many donors. I talked to a gentleman not long ago and he said ‘just use those donated funds to pave our streets.’ I reminded him that the donors gave funds exclusively for the pool and nothing else. Street paving is an entirely different issue. We all want more streets paved but that issue will need to go to the voters after the replacement of the old cast iron water pipes, a project that is currently underway. City Council members want streets paved as much as anyone else, but it doesn’t make sense to pave streets before the water pipe replacement project is complete.”

Editor’s Note: Next week the Enterprise will publish an updated drawing of the pool design as well as list the features currently planned for the facility.